Song of the Day: Roadkill Ghost Choir – Classics (Die Young)

01/18/2018

KEXP

By Will Hagle

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Morning Show with John Richards, is Roadkill Ghost Choir's “Classics (Die Young)," from the album False Youth Etcetera, available now on Freakout! Records.

Roadkill Ghost Choir hails from DeLand, Florida, a small town near Daytona Beach. Their roots are recognizable in their music, a type of Southern rock that’s earned them comparisons to My Morning Jacket and fellow Floridian Tom Petty. Petty’s spirit is especially palpable on “Classics (Die Young),” the latest single from Roadkill Ghost Choir’s sophomore album False Youth Etcetera, which was released on Freakout! Records in 2017.

The chorus of “Classics (Die Young)” has the cadence of “I Won’t Back Down,” albeit filtered through a more modern, synth-tinged form of Americana. Lead singer and songwriter Andrew Shepard sings with a deep nasally tone akin to The War on Drugs or Kurt Vile, and the band backs him up with a similar sort of modern folk rock while sporting similarly long, wavy haircuts. “Classics (Die Young)” meanders throughout its four-minute runtime with textured vocals, guitar riffs, and synth solos, with all of the band’s musicians getting a chance to flex their respective muscles. It’s a laid-back Southern rock tune that doesn’t change much but never gets boring, either.

Roadkill Ghost Choir is scheduled to play The Crocodile on Sunday, January 28th with The White Buffalo, and they'll be LIVE on KEXP that afternoon at 3:00 PM PT. More information and other tour dates can be found on their Facebook page. Flashback to 2013 with the video for their track "Beggars' Guild" below.